Tsonga – Cilic

Jo Wilfried Tsonga will try to build on two solid results in the previous rounds in order to down Marin Cilic in the Monte Carlo third round – with the Croat also boosted by a good showing in the previous round.


Tsonga defeated Goffin 6-3 6-4 yesterday, an excellent result to back up the straight sets win he had over Struff in the first round and some good tennis from Jo Wilfried as well. I did not expect Tsonga to win, looking at the fact that it was just his 4th match of the season after a few months in which he did not train – but it was also his most consistent one. However, the 6-3 6-4 result was a little harsh, as Goffin had his chances, particularly in the second set, he simply did not take them.

Cilic defeated Florian Mayer in three sets in his second round opener, not the sharpest performance against a player coming back from injury, but some good tennis from Cilic and the win was never in doubt. Marin is looking to get back his rhythm, as he was awful after winning the US Open last year and played just two matches this year because of injuries and a personal choice to focus more on training. This is a good chance for him, he has one win under his belt and faces a still rusty Tsonga.



The Head 2 Head is 3-3, but if we write off to challenger matches from 2007, Cilic leads 3-1 – including winning the last two meetings in straight sets. The two players never met on clay.

I reckon Tsonga deserves to be a favorite in this one, his level of tennis was pretty good this week – however, the odds are way too low for a player that played only 4 times this year and who obviously still has a lot of room to improve. Cilic was injured and did not play more himself (2 matches this year), but at least he has been in training mode, fit to train this season and played more at the end of last year. Marin is not playing at his best level either, but he has been very competitive against Florian Mayer and I`d say he`s more or less at the same level as Tsonga right now. Fair odds would be about 1.75 for the Frenchman as far as I`m concerned, so I`m all over Cilic to win at the current price.

The Croat should also be the fitter of the two if the match goes to a deciding set. My tip is a Cilic win. Correct score prediction: Jo Wilfried Tsonga – Marin Cilic 6-2 5-7 6-7.

Live streaming for JW Tsonga vs. Marin Cilic available for players at Bet365.com.

Pick: Cilic
Odds: 2.83

PSG vs Barcelona

PSG awaits this game in a perfect atmosphere as the team just took the title in Coupe de la Ligue competition by defeating Bastia last weekend with an easy 4:0 result. However, the game was actually decided before even the first goal was scored, as one of the most important players of Bastia got excluded early in the first halftime.

Title came thanks to goals from Ibrahimovic, two in the first halftime and two goals from Cavani in the second half. No doubt that the atmosphere inside the club is great, as they have won the League Cup competition for the second consecutive season, have reached the Cup finale, but also are leading in the domestic Ligue 1 league. The team is still playing in all four competitions, being able to currently dream all four titles, something that is anyway worthy of congratulations at such a high level. What they want the most is recognition within Europe and it’s competition, but tonight they will be having quite a difficult job, as the French side can’t count at their best player Ibrahimovic (22/17) who was excluded in the previous game against Chelsea. Suspended is also midfielder Marco Verratti (27/1), as well as defender Serge Aurier (10/0). Finally, this match will also be missed by defensive midfielder Thiago Motta who is injured.



Barcelona, on the other side, comes from a slight setback, as the team only drew away from home against Sevilla 2:2 last weekend. They dominated at the start of the game, having complete control over the ball in first thirty minutes, taking a lead via Messi and Neymar, but allowed reduction of their lead against the flow of the game near the end of the first halftime.

The team has conceded seven goal seven minutes before the full time whistle, finally staying with only a point as there was no time to react furthermore. This result broke a streak of nine victories for the side of Luis Enrique, as the team now have only two points more than second placed Real Madrid, not having anymore room for additional setbacks. For tonight’s game, coach Enrique, won’t be able to count at right full back Dani Alves who is suspended and his position is expected to be taken by Adriano. In comparison to the game against Sevilla, the team show have back central defender Javier Mascherano instead of Jeremy Mathieu, while between the posts we should have German Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Last seven matches in Champions League between these two sides have ended with both teams scoring at least once.

Barcelona’s coach admitted that they will play to win here and therefore, an open game is expected. These sides have met twice already this season, both times with each time scoring at least once and I believe we will see the same tonight. Despite absence of PSG’s best player, home side is more than capable of scoring a goal against not so reliable Barcelona’s defense which we saw in a match against Sevilla.
Bet: Both teams to score @ 1.78

Boston Celtics – Toronto Raptors

Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors / NBA – Boston plays like in a trance and has a realistic chance to take one of the last two positions in the Eastern Conference that leads in the play-offs. According to what they showed it would be a shame if they don’t qualify for the play-offs as they truly deserve to be in it, just like Toronto, who has spent the entire season among the best teams of the East. Begins: 15.04.2015 – 01:30 CET
Boston Celtics

Boston plays the last days of the regular season like in a dream. The winning series has stretched to four games and besides that they reinforced themselves in the seventh position with 38 wins and 42 defeats. Compared to their direct competitors, the Nets and the Pacers, they have better head-to-head score and therefore are in an advantaged position. Boston has made a big leap forward when it defeated the Cavs on Sunday evening, who indirectly helped them as they rested their starting five players. Boston “thanked” for that gift with a victory of 39 points difference.

We have said several times that no one gave Boston a chance to reach the play-offs, especially when they let go Rondo and Green, but that move had homogenised them and after it they have been playing very well, and as the things stand now they have secured a place for themselves in the play-offs and the Cavs for the opponents, most probably, in the first round of it. However, to be sure that the seventh place is theirs they need to defeat Toronto, who is also in a winning series and fights for the third position in the East. They have the 12th attack of the league and are even fifth by number of assists in the whole NBA. On top of that is sounds a bit surreal that almost all players are excellent shooters (10 players average more than 8.5 points per game).

Probable lineups Boston Celtics: Bradley, Smart, Turner, Bass, Zeller
Toronto Raptors

Toronto has spent the bigger portion of the season in the very top of the East and it has been long clear that will have in the first round of the play-offs the home-field advantage. Of course, they would like to end the regular part of the season in the third position but it is questionable who would suit them in the first round of the play-offs, the Wizards or the Bucks? Only they know that, although on the first glance it seems that the Bucks would be a bit easier opponents, primarily because of weaker backcourt as the Raptors have 3-4 great guards in their ranks. Toronto is currently in a good shape as it won the last three games and have the overall result of 48 wins and 32 defeats.

We don’t need to stress that Lowry and DeRozan are the two main players of this team, two great guards who together average almost 38 points, 10.3 assist and 9.3 rebounds per game. Besides all that, they have a reliable bench player Williams who averages 15.5 points in just 25 minutes on the court. Toronto is one of the best offensive teams in the league that scores over 104 points per game on average, so their games are rarely boring.

Probable lineups Toronto Raptors: Lowry, DeRozan, Ross, Johnson, Valanciunas
Boston Celtics – Toronto Raptors PICK

Because of possible calculations due to “choosing” of the opponent in the first round of the play-offs it is not impossible that certain players get a break. That would take away part of the usual charge and the offensive players could profit from such situation.

Pick: over 208 points

Stake: 5/10

Odds: 1.93